Pipelines or LNG: What is the Future Transport of Choice?

As worldwide demand for natural gas continues to grow at an increasing rate and certain countries’ indigenous production is either in decline or simply unable to fill the shortfall, more attention is being given to importing gas from the few remaining major exporters. The UK has recently become a net importer of gas, and the US is expected to import as much as 5 trillion cubic feet of gas by 2020, the question that arises is what will be the primary method of delivery in the future? Can LNG alone fill any shortfalls and make interregional pipelines obsolete or will pipelines provide enough volume to stall LNG production? Issues of safety and high capital costs are principle reasons why some projects avoid LNG technology. This paper looks at when LNG may be preferable, and when pipelines are the better method of transport in the context of economics and policy.